On April 25, 2013 the presentation of a robotized rock hauler “BelAZ” with the freight capacity of 130 tons and electromechanical transmission took place in JSC “BelAZ”. The car is controlled by software developed by “VIST Group” and its affiliate R&D company “VIST Mining Technology”.
Not later than in 2010 the Foundation resident “VIST Mining Technology”, affiliate company of JSC “VIST Group”, surprised everyone with a huge dump truck which is controlled remotely as if in a computer driving simulator game. At that time this seemed like science fiction to many, but on April 25 a 130-ton giant was demonstrated on testing ground of “BelAZ” in Belarus, fully autonomous and controlled only by a robot. Equipment and software were also tested on 90-tons trucks.
Mikhail Makeyev, project director of “Vist Mining Technology” explained that this product is aimed at decreasing risks for people during work on sites with difficult access.
It will be in demand for cut-and-cover mineral mining, in places with dangerous operating conditions, as well as for eliminating influence of environmental hazards for the dump truck operator. During the presentation of a fully autonomous rock hauler, the truck imitated real work of quarry transport, moved in programmed trajectories,said Mikhail Makeyev, “Vist Mining Technology”
“The dump truck’s operation is controlled by a server software which interacts with automated management system software of the state transport company “Karyer”. Movement trajectories, dump truck routing in the quarry, priority setting, route definition – this is all managed by the central management server”, said Makeyev. Equipment can be installed on any model of “BelAZ” rock hauler with freight capacity of 90 tons and up, and in the future – on other special equipment used in quarries too.
Igor Bogachev, Executive Director of Skolkovo Foundation IT cluster commented on this event, saying that today a lot of companies and innovation teams around the world were actively working on robotized management of transport and equipment.
Among companies working in this direction there are both global ones such as Google, and Russian, large and dozens of smaller but also highly prospective ones. “Vist Mining Technology” is one of the few companies that managed to demonstrate a concrete applied result in the form of a controlled dump truck. Several large mining companies already expressed their interest in this product. This technology does have both social and economic importance, considerably increasing safety and efficiency of mineral mining,said Igor Bogachev, Executive Director of Skolkovo Foundation IT cluster"
The head of the IT cluster sees the role of Skolkovo Foundation in this and similar projects in creation of maximally comfortable conditions, accelerating development and delivery of technology to the market. “Obviously, these are financial conditions provided to residents – tax benefits, grant support. Another highly important aspect is cooperation and co-innovations with other residents of the Skolkovo ecosystem, both global corporations and Russian startups, with the aim of creating a more complex joint proposal, meeting requirements of the customers. Panels with external sector experts, more than 50 accredited investment funds accredited at Skolkovo, Intellectual Property Center, all combined in one place, provide our residents with additional possibilities for acceleration and development of projects”, said Igor Bogachev.